Penguins postseason history doesn’t lack for incredible saves.
Marc-Andre Fleury on Alex Ovechkin — twice — and also Nicklas Lidstrom.
Frank Pietrangelo on Peter Stastny.
What Matt Murray did Wednesday by denying Philadelphia’s Scott Laughton at 8:20 of the first period to spur a 7-0 win probably falls a cut below those aforementioned stops, but it was impressive nonetheless.
And crucial as the Penguins grabbed a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
“It’s huge,” Bryan Rust said. “That’s why he’s had so much success and he is who he is. That put some energy throughout the whole building. We fed off of it.”
The sequence started with a pass from Olli Maatta to Conor Sheary that resulted in a turnover.
Oskar Lindblom got the puck and passed to Jori Lehtera, who found Laughton for a backdoor chance. Laughton probably should’ve scored, but he didn’t get enough on his first attempt, allowing Murray to slide across his crease, and used Murray his catching glove to make the stop.
“That was obviously huge,” Justin Schultz said. “The game could’ve been different if that went in, but he’s been doing that the last couple years for us, bailing us out, another one right there.”
The stop was part of a 24-save shutout for Murray, his third straight in the postseason resulting in a shutout stretch of 206:26.
Murray extended his home playoff winning streak to six games. He's now 23-9 all-time in the postseason.
“Every play is so important,” Sidney Crosby said. “The blocked shots, defensive plays, the big saves. That was certainly one of them.”
Fourth line shines
The Penguins fourth line of Zach Aston-Reese, Riley Sheahan and Tom Kuhnhackl did not score a goal, but it did contribute to two with lengthy, offensive-zone shifts.
“We talked about it a lot — just keeping it simple and trying to set the next line up,” Aston-Reese said. “It happened twice where right after we had an offensive-zone shift, the next line came out and put one in.”
It’s exactly what the Penguins have been looking for out of that line.
With Derick Brassard back, Riley Sheahan has become the Penguins' fourth-line center again.
And while expecting a bunch of goals is probably unrealistic, the Penguins are counting on that group to turn in exactly what they did Wednesday: momentum-building shifts that wear down the other team.
Before Carl Hagelin’s goal, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan used his fourth line against the Flyers top trio of Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier and Michael Raffl.
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Sullivan typically prefers best-on-best matchups, but his fourth line’s defensive play has given him confidence to use that line against other teams’ top scorers.
“That’s what that line can potentially bring to our team,” Sullivan said of wearing down the Flyers with an extended stretch of puck possession.
“That was something that we spoke about to that line when we put them together. When Riley plays between those two guys, that’s a really solid 200-foot line. They’re big bodies. They can lean on people. They’re good on the forecheck, but they’re also sound defensively. They’re willing to block shots. They defend hard. That’s a line that we can use against any line.
“We have a comfort level with playing that line against anyone. They’re the type of line that can help us get momentum. I thought they did that on a number of occasions [Wednesday]. I think that’s an invaluable part of helping this team win.”
Crosby and Philly
Sidney Crosby began this game with 38 goals in 63 games against the Flyers — more than any other opponent.
So it shouldn’t really come as a shock that Crosby had his third career playoff hat trick against them Wednesday, which tied Mario Lemieux’s playoff mark.
“It doesn’t matter who’s in front of him,” Kris Letang said. “He’s a tremendous player. He wants to be the best. He works to be the best. It shows in his game.”
By the numbers:
20: Home wins in 27 tries for Sullivan-coached Penguins teams in the postseason.
4: Points for Guentzel, his first career four-point playoff game. Guentzel has 25 points in 26 playoff games all-time.
11: Postseason goals for Evgeni Malkin against the Flyers, the most for him against any team.
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Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: April 12, 2018, 11:30 a.m.
